A wireless network is a telecommunications network that allows wireless communication devices and systems to exchange data. Wireless computer networks may have configured devices, such as APs, which act as transmitters and receivers of wireless signals to and from STAs, and which may further be networked together through a backbone to form an ESS. The ESS is defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard and set of amendments (hereinafter Wi-Fi), and consists of a formation which links a plurality of basic service sets (BSS') together with the backbone. The backbone may include wired Ethernet which connects APs to one another in the ESS. All the clients connected to the same and different BSS' can communicate among each other within the ESS.
The current state of the art provides various mechanisms for the STA to determine which new AP to associate with if it needs to break its association with its current AP. The STA may, for example, use a probe request and probe response exchange with the APs within an ESS in order to determine its new/target AP. The STA may alternatively use the “BSS Transition Management” mechanism set forth in IEEE 802.11v by transmitting a BSS Transition Management Query to its current AP to determine, based on a BSS Transition Management Request from its current AP sent in response to the BSS Transition Management Query, a list roaming candidate APs whose channels the STA could scan to determine its target AP (the AP it will roam to) from the list.